1.This
chapter deals with the work done by the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights during 2004, and it concerns the system of petitions and
individual cases before both the Commission and the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights. This chapter covers the precautionary measures granted
by the Commission and requested of member states of the Organization and
the reports approved pursuant to Articles 49 or 51 of the American
Convention or Article 45(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission
in effect as of May 1, 2001--in the case of those states not party to
the Convention--and which the Commission has decided to publish; and its
reports on cases declared admissible or inadmissible under the terms of
Articles 46 and 47 of the Convention and Article 37(1) of the Rules of
Procedure. This chapter also describes the activities of the Commission
before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, vis-ŕ-vis
provisional measures, contentious cases, and requests for advisory
opinions.

2.Section B includes
statistical tables on the information contained in this chapter; section
C.1 contains information on the precautionary measures agreed on or
extended by the IACHR. In this regard, the Commission has continued its
practice of reporting on the precautionary measures sought from member
states of the Organization, either on its own initiative or at the
request of a party, pursuant to the provisions of Article 25 of its
Rules of Procedure, in those cases where such action was necessary to
prevent irreparable harm to persons. The precautionary measures are
presented in alphabetical order according to the names of the states to
which the request was submitted; the listings also indicate the name of
the person or persons on whose behalf the request was made, a summary of
the information on which the request was grounded, the rights of the
persons exposed to grave and imminent harm, the number of the case, if
any, and, finally, the date of the request and the name of the state in
question, as well as other relevant information.

3.Section C.2 includes
all the petitions and cases processed and resolved by the Commission
during the time covered by this report. It contains a total of 61
reports: 45 cases that were declared admissible; 9 reports on petitions
that were deemed inadmissible; 3 friendly settlement reports; and 4
reports on merits.

4.In accordance with
Article 46 of the IACHR’s Rules of Procedure, section D includes an
analysis relative to compliance by States with the recommendations
contained in reports on individual cases published in the Annual Reports
for 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

5.Section E deals with
the individual petitions and cases taken by the Commission to the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It lists the provisional measures
ordered by the Court at the Commission’s request in cases of extreme
gravity and urgency, pursuant to the provisions of Article 63(2) of the
American Convention on Human Rights; a summary of a number of Court
judgments; and the actions taken by the Commission in several
contentious cases. The provisional measures are also listed in the order
of their presentation; they include the name of the person or persons on
whose behalf they were requested, a summary of the facts of the case and
of the rights at stake, the date of the request, the name of the state
in question, and the date on which the Court adopted the relevant
decision.

6.Over 2004, the
Commission received 1329 complaints alleging violations of human rights
protected in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
and the American Convention on Human Rights or other relevant
instruments; it also instituted 160 petitions during the period covered
by this report, giving a total of 1021 individual cases and petitions
being processed by the Commission in the year 2004.

7.This chapter of the
2004 Annual Report contains statistical information to provide a general
overview of the different activities carried out by the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights.

8.First it presents data
concerning the cases and petitions being processed. These comprise the
greater volume of the Commission's work. “Cases” is taken as meaning
all those petitions declared admissible by means of a report on
admissibility. “Petitions” is taken as meaning all those complaints that
have been forwarded to the state involved but in which no report on
admissibility has been issued.

1. Total number
of complaints received by country in the year 2004.

The preceding graph
illustrates the total number complaints received by the IACHR according
to the OAS member States in respect of which the complaints were
presented.

2.
Total number of complaints received by year.

This graph illustrates the total number of
complaints received by the Commission during the last seven years. "Complaints"
for the purposes of these statistics includes all complaints, presented
in writing, concerning an alleged violation by an OAS member state of
the Convention, the Declaration and/or other pertinent instrument.

*Of this
number, 3763 petitions referred to the situation of the rights of
persons affected by the banking measures "Corralito" in Argentina.

3. Total number of petitions transmitted during 2004 by
country.

This graph illustrates
the total petitions transmitted between January 1 and December 31, 2004,
according to the OAS member states in respect of which the petitions
were presented.

4.
Total number of petitions transmitted by year.

The preceding graph
shows the total number of petitions transmitted since 1997.